The National Weather Service, State College, issued a flash flood warning until midnight Thursday for western Franklin County and southwestern Perry and Juniata counties. It also issued a flash flood advisory for eastern Franklin County until 7:15 p.m. Thursday.

Up to two inches of rain fell in 90 minutes in west central Franklin County, the Weather Service reported shortly before 3 p.m. The flooding threat grew as heavy downpours hit near-saturated soils.

Water drained from fields and across highways. Municipalities ran short of "road closed" signs.

Edenville on Thursday got four inches of rain, most of it in an hour, according to St. Thomas Roadmaster David Ramer.

"It's still raining," Ramer said at 4 p.m. Thursday on a break from closing roads. "It's coming right out of the mountain across Apple Way. If it keeps on like this, it's hard to tell when we're going to get them open. I know some culverts are full. You can't do nothing in them when the water is swirling in them. You can't get in them."

The region has experienced a protracted period of thunderstorms because it's at the boundary of a very large, slow moving Bermuda high, according to weather observer Robert Wertime of Greencastle. The weather pattern is more typical of May and June than summer.

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Greencastle has experienced 7.3 inches of rain since May 1, according to Wertime. The norm is 5.6 inches.

For the most part the rain has come down hard -- heavy rain (.3 to one inch per hour) for two hours and 26 minutes, very heavy rain (one to 3 inches per hour) for one hour and 16 minutes and torrential rain (more the 3 inches an hour) for six minutes. The rates vary from place to place because the rainfall is from thunderstorms.

Fire police at 3 p.m. Thursday directed single-lane traffic over a flooded Lincoln Way West (U.S. 30) at Apple Way in St. Thomas Township. Storm drains were clogged.

Peters Township also had road closings in the northwest — McDowell and Geibs roads.

"The waterway's got all the water it can handle," Peters Township Roadmaster Sam Rotz said. "It's too much water."

It was raining lightly in Upton when Rotz left to go north,

"I couldn't believe what it was like up here," he said. "I don't know what it put down, but it put down a lot."

Water was crossing Edenville Road and Apple Way, according to Ramer. Other roads in the area also were affected, but a complete list of closures was not available.

The National Weather Service had forecast periods of heavy rain (an inch or more per hour) in the western part of the county with isolated rainfalls totalling two to three inches over a short duration. Areas in the eastern part of the county and into Adams County were to get more than two inches of rain.

Greencastle Rescue Hose responded to a 5:15 p.m. call for a vehicle in the water at 2593 Hill Road, Antrim Township. Rabbit Road in the same area was closed. Several of the water rescue calls found the drivers had gotten out of the situation.

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